Taiji Senjimon (may change)
by Alumina
Summary: Luka sends me to spy on the Tigeroids against my will and won't let me get a say in it. He says I'm not going to die, but if the Tigeroids or even the other Dragonoids catch me I will. (Current summary.) Season three spoilers throughout if you know what you're looking for. I do not own Tai Chi Chasers.
1. Chapter 1

**Finally, after almost three years, I got around to start actually writing this. I originally didn't want to write a Tai Chi Chasers fanfiction. I don't remember the reason why now. Ideas started during episode three and finally after episode twenty-five aired I started writing random scenes. This was going to be in third-person, but the main character was dull and then I put her in first-person and she got a personality…. Which has made her hard to control.**

**Also, originally I was going to have an older character that would be paired with Luka. I didn't like the idea too much. This was before episode fourteen aired.**

**This first chapter takes place between episodes six and seven.**

**Special thanks to Kimiko Heroux, FranzyPearlfan and SW11615 for Beta reading this first chapter.**

I had to keep running with the hopefully five-second head-start. It was amazing how all the hallways tend to look the same when terrified and running for your life. I looked back and— _Ow! Stupid wall! Why put yourself here?! … It was the same corner too…_ And once again I was cornered by the questionably intelligent, creepy Dragonoid. Huh, twice in three days, that's a new record. Hopefully it could get to once in three days. That would be very nice. Better if it never happened again.

I turned, death-glaring at Ave. If he took only ten steps closer, just like he could any time before… "Go ahead. I dare you to come closer." Unlike the last time I said that, he didn't move, having that same wary expression he always had when this close to anyone, especially because we were on flat ground. The strange thing was Ave had mostly ignored me alone for the first few weeks I knew him, and for a week or so he completely avoided me after finding out my age. After that he tried talking to me. I couldn't remember exactly what it was because I had ran away from him, but half of the stuff he says is creepy, so it likely would have been something like that. For a while I'd been able to scare him with sudden movements, but that stopped working so well three months ago. And he claimed to be a "ruthless warrior". Right… _No! One step closer is enough! No, stay away. Stay. Away._

He jumped back and a glowing blue arrowhead stuck deep into the stone wall behind me, clipping a few strands of my black hair in the process. _I'm saved! If that had been any closer…._

"Leave her alone, Ave." The all too familiar long-haired albino stood just down the hall, leaning against the wall, giving The Glare to Ave. If he ever gave The Glare to anyone that meant he was about to hurt them.

Ave narrowed his eyes at him. "Just because she's your apprentice doesn't make her special." _If only you knew. If only you knew. Then it would be hilarious._ Ave took a step back; The Glare must have gotten to him. He glanced at me, as if asking to help him. A very visible thin line of red went across his cheek. He really needed a tan…. I narrowed my eyes at him. _Really? After all of _this _for the past year I'm supposed to help_ you?

He retreated.

Now that he was gone…. I smiled sheepishly. "Hey, Luka…."

"You need to learn how to defend yourself." As usual he was expressionless.

I folded my arms. "He's faster than everyone here combined and has a freaky, long, snake tongue. What do you expect me to do?!" Sure he was the weakest one here. Just yesterday he lost an arm-wrestling match to _Duran_. How a dragon with arms barely the length of my hand could do that… "Is there a way I can make him stop scaring me? I'm _never_ going to let him hug me." _Where did that come from? _

He gave me a look that seemed to ask why I would even have said that. "I taught you how to use Water in a hook-shot, didn't I? Just hit him from behind and he will back off." He sounded really annoyed. Normally he wasn't like this. For the past two months or so he'd occasionally be this distant and irritated at the same time. _What was his name… oh yeah. _

"Did you or anyone else fight Rai again?" His eyes narrowed at the mention of the Tigeroid's name. "Normally you're not like this with anyone, especially a Tigeroid." Over the past two months he'd taken a strange interest in Rai, like he _had_ to defeat him. It was true Luka hated all Tigeroids, but Rai was _different. _Wait… Rai wasn't the one Tigeroid Luka hated the most, was he? …No, that was over twelve years ago when Luka's hatred started. And from what I heard, Rai was only about twelve or so, so he wasn't even born when that happened….

Whatever expression he had was gone now. "He's like you. He can use Tai Chi without an Activator." A brief expression flashed over his face. "Unlike you he's barely a threat."

That wasn't a compliment. I glared and stomped up to him. "What does _that_ mean?"

"You can't fight."

"I can too!"

"If you fought you would be the first to die." I threw a punch at him. I didn't see his hand move as he caught my fist. He yanked me forward, crushing me against his chest, securing me in place with his arms as he lifted me up and rested his chin on my head. _He knew I didn't like this_. "You would be dead by now."

"Let go! Can't breathe!" He set me down and loosened his grip enough for me to turn around.

_Now for revenge_. I jabbed him with my elbow, forgetting one important detail: armor. Painful tingles ran up and down my arm. _Funny bone_… I could feel his stare.

"Jahara taught you better than that." He let go and walked down the hall with me.

I glared at his back. "Just wait until the day you're not wearing any. Jahara _never said_ anything about armor."

Just then shouts echoed down the hall, followed by a bang from a Break card.

I shook my head. "If Jahara can beat Ave to a pulp any time she wants to and he knows it, why does he still provoke her?"

"He doesn't know Jahara can invite her brothers to visit any time she wants."

Even though she really didn't need to….

Jahara did have a younger brother and five older ones. Apparently they were all very protective of her, especially after one of the biggest battles that happened back on Suhn eight to ten years ago that resulted in a lot of deaths on both sides. Most of the living Tigeroids were captured and the remaining Tigeroids fled to here. Their current hiding place was unknown, and every time it seemed like it was found it was just an old, abandoned one.

Luka stopped and I bumped into him. "I have to talk to General Vicious. _Stay here_." He went on ahead, entering the room were meetings took place down the hall.

I paced around for a while, but close enough to where Luka had left me so it wouldn't be considered as not staying there. The last time I left he didn't let me eat dessert for three days.

"Sora?"

I turned, watching Jahara approach. "What did Ave do this time?"

"The usual," she said. "You won't have to worry about him for a while." She looked around. "Do you know where Luka is? He said we could train today."

"Talking to the General about something," I frowned. "I have to stay here. What if Ave came back? He's good at recovering really fast. I don't think he'd let me punch him in the nose like last time."

She stared at me for a moment. _"Ave_ was that close to you?"

Why put heavy meaning in his name? "Yeah. I dared him to get closer, he did, and I punched him." She still stared at me like I was either lying again or saying something she didn't understand. "Why, is that weird even for Ave?" That was three days ago, and with how talkative Ave was Jahara should have heard about it by now….

She laughed lightly, although it sounded forced. "No. Well… you see…" She glanced around, looked behind me, and for a second her voice rose in pitch. "_Hi_, Luka!" She cleared her throat, fake coughing and lowered her voice. "Hi."

He looked at her and then at me, possibly wondering the same question: What was going on? He turned to me. "You have an assignment. You're going to spy on the Tigeroids."

What?

Jahara frowned. "What if she's found out?"

"She'll be fine," he said, "We're going to make it look like we're capturing her and let them take her. Duran said there's a Tai Chi signal. We can use that to our advantage."

Jahara nodded. "… I'm coming with you…?" She smiled when Luka nodded. "What if they find it before we get there?"

That's different. Team missions were usually between Luka and Garnia and Jahara and Ave.

"We're leaving in ten minutes."

I gaped at him. "Don't I get a say in this?"

He turned to me. "We need you to do this."

"I'm staying here, and you can't make me go." I folded my arms, giving him The Glare, hoping I'd pull it off as well as he did because my eyes weren't quite as piercing as his were. The colored lenses I used to make my eyes look blue probably weren't helping very much, either.

Jahara glanced at me. "It would keep Ave away from you."

True…. "Well…."

Jahara offered me a card. "If you go I'll give this to you."

I narrowed my eyes. "Are you bribing me?"

"Yes."

"Fine, but I'm not going to be happy about this." I took the card. It was one of Jahara's extra Break cards. I looked up at Luka. "What would happen if the plan goes wrong, and they don't find us?"

"We can use this." He held out a card. I reached for it, but he held it well above my height. "You'll get to see it later." For a second I thought I saw him smile, and it wasn't friendly.

* * *

We went to the middle of a forest where apparently the card was. Jahara used her Thread Tai Chi to tie my wrists together and to loosely tie around my neck. I had had to put on old, beat up clothes to make it look like I put up a fight. The bruises I had gotten from constantly tripping on tree roots made it look more convincing.

Luka handed me a thin chain with a pendant on it that had the picture of the back of a Tai Chi card. "Hide it under your shirt."

"Why?" I put it on at one of his stares.

Jahara walked on ahead. "I'm going to keep watch."

Earlier Luka had carved a nearly perfect circle bulls-eye onto a large curved piece of wood. He leaned it against a tree, backed away, and started to use his Pierce card to create mini versions of the arrowheads and flicked them at the target, getting each one in the center.

I took the necklace out, examining it. It was a locket… Luka knew I wanted one… Wait, was it actually a Tai Chi card?

_'It is.'_

I jumped. Luka's voice sounded like it was in my head.

He turned to me, flicking another mini version of Pierce, hitting the target in the center. _Without looking_. His lips didn't move. _'It's the Link Tai Chi. It only requires to be worn by the user.'_ He looked at me as if I were an idiot. _'Yes, I have one, too.'_ He started to speak normally. "It won't work all the time. You need to be in a calm state of mind in order to use it."

"But I never have a calm mind."

Jahara ran over. "They're coming." She picked up the extra thread that connected to what was around my neck and gently led me.

_Luka was _so_ going to pay for this._

Five minutes later….

"Did they leave?" I asked.

Luka stopped, tensing. Not too far away were voices. He stared in the direction where the voices were coming from, frowning. "Two of them must be guarding their airship." Jahara nodded, looking in the same direction.

"Which two?" I asked, trying to stand as tall as I could to see, too. That meant there were at least four…

Jahara replied. "The short one and," she paused, "Rai." She turned to me. "Usually the short one and the one that uses the Wall Tai Chi team up."

"You mean the two that tricked Garnia with Illusion two months ago?" Apparently he'd tried flattening them with his oversized mallet and got it stuck in the human-made ground that was called "cement". That would have been kind of funny to watch.

Luka took a few more cautious steps, still watching where the voices were coming from. After a minute or so he motioned for Jahara to follow. Off a ways flashes of pink were moving between the trees, along with a much harder to see blue.

"Well, they're going the other way, so…" I began walking the other way. I stopped very short and turned. What was— Luka held a good length of the thread. There was something in his expression I really didn't like. He got out a card and Activated it, the character for Destruction appearing. _Big, hairy spider with glowing eyes!_ I screamed, jumping away from it. I glared at Luka as it disappeared. "_You're mean_." I turned to glare at Jahara. "_It's not funny!_" Destruction was one of the really annoying characters that could be in multiple classes of Tai Chi, it being a Technique-type Tai Chi that could also be used as an Attack-type and Defensive-type.

The voices became louder and more urgent. Jahara led me again, faking the annoyed expression she was very good at making.

Luka glanced back as the Tigeroids got closer. "We don't need her to escape." His voice was loud enough for the Tigeroids to hear. _Yes, don't let her escape… Wait. That's me_.

One of the Tigeroids, a girl wearing a pink shirt that was a little too long, activated a Stream Tai Chi. _That must be Sena._ Luka activated Water, the attack overpowering Stream, though it was blocked by the other Tigeroid's Wall Tai Chi. He glanced back. "Take the girl back to the Luftdrake!"

_'I have a name you know!'_ I shouted at him through the Link Tai Chi.

Jahara nodded and tugged me away when shards of ice cut through the thread, freeing me. _Who did that?!_

_'Sora, run!'_ He shouted at me the same time the Tigeroids told me to run, too.

I turned and ran, the last sight of the battle being Jahara getting involved in a fight with Sena. _Where am I supposed to go?! _

The sounds of the battle quickly faded.

I slowed to a walk. Earth forests weren't this quiet, were they? Somewhere from behind I heard a Tai Chi card activate. _What…?_ I turned just as green glowing whips knocked me back and bound me to tree. _Why?! I hate you, Luka; I hate you. You brought me into this. When I get out of this I'm going to_— I stared at Ave as he walked out of the cover of the trees. He _never_ left the Luftdrake without his floating platform and his own personal robot army. And because he fought didn't fight as well on flat ground as he did in the air…. He kept stopping and looking back to where I had come from, even as he spoke to me.

"I saw what Luka did. He doesn't respect you much after all." That was the first time he said more than three words to me.

"At least he respects me more than he respects you." I can't reach my Water card….

"I'm not the one he's endangering with this mission." His attention became more focused. "If the Tigeroids find out about you, you will die."

Are you trying to get me to turn against my—

A huge block of ice rammed into Ave, knocking him away. A boy that looked about a year or two younger than me with long, black hair practically came out of nowhere and used a dagger made of ice to cut the whips that bound me to the tree.

I stared at him. _I forgive Luka now_.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

I nodded and hid behind him when Ave stood back up. _Well that only made me look pathetic…_ I stepped to the side.

Ave stared at me, looking like he didn't understand what I was doing. "He's only trying to gain your trust. After we defeat him, we're going back to the Luftdrake."

_Stop talking! Do you _want_ me to get caught?! And why do you keep saying "we"?!_

The boy glanced at me.

"Half the stuff he says doesn't make sense and the other half shows how creepy he is," I said, getting an annoyed look from Ave. I glared at him. "You know it's true."

That only agitated him, and his Activator and likely his Whip card slipped into his hands. _Someday I'm going to dissect those sleeves to see how he keeps his stuff up them_. He activated Whip and the attack was frozen by the boy's Ice card. Ave activated Whip again, this time there were a lot more whips than there usually was. The boy froze most of them, not reacting in time to several whips coming at him from the side. He was knocked away and dropped his card.

Ave must have learned that from when he really annoyed Jahara a while back and she used his Whip card against him to stun him like that. The boy looked as if he'd been hit hard enough to stun him for a while.

"Attack him," Ave said, "I'll tell General Vicious you defeated the Tigeroid on your own."

What? The boy managed to glance at me. It was almost like he was judging me.

Ave took a step closer. I picked up the card the boy dropped and pointed it at Ave. "Back off!" My voice shook as badly as my hand. I expected him to laugh at me, like he would in any fight against a Tigeroid. Instead he stepped back.

"You can't even use that." Was that a hint of doubt? "If you won't attack him…." Another card slipped into his hand. Seriously, how does he even pick the card he wants?!

"Back off!" I shouted the first thing that came to mind. "Ice!" Well, that was—

The character on the card began to glow and a matching one appeared in the air. A blizzard swept out of it, gaining intensity and making Ave go flying back.

I stared at the card, for few seconds feeling a bit lightheaded. I can do that with _Tigeroid_ cards?!

Luka's voice startled me. _'The Tigeroids should be there by now.'_ He "left" before I could ask what just happened.

"Finn!" Sena ran up to the boy, helping him up. "Are you all right?" Her current gentleness didn't match how Jahara had described her. So _that's_ what the Tigeroid accent sounded like.

The other Tigeroid ran over. "What happened?"

"Ave," I said.

They turned to me. Sena glanced at the card in my hand, which I quickly gave back to Finn. "You fought a Dragonoid? _On your own?"_ She looked and sounded surprised.

"I've done it before." When Luka helped me in a friendly environment, anyway….

"For now come back to the Airship with us," Sena said, "The Dragonoids might come after you again."

I followed them, but only because Ave tended to recover annoyingly fast.

The forest started to become more alive again with chirping birds.

Sena turned to me, "I'm Sena, this is Donha," she gestured to the one that used the Wall Tai Chi, "and this is Finn." I already knew who he was.

"Sora," I said. While Sena and Donha talked about something I caught up to Finn. "How much did you hear before?"

"Enough."

_That's… not good…_ I continually straightened out the curls in my dark hair. "You won't say anything, will you?"

"Ave was making it look like you're on his side." His voice implied that he was answering "no". So he didn't know. That's a relief. I'm not going to die after all.

* * *

The Tigeroid's Airship looked… well… like a tiger's head. It was so small compared to the Dragonoid's Airships, and a lot plainer, as those airships were more of a strange cross between a dragon and a bat and were built for combat. One hit, and this airship would be destroyed. _Okay, that thought is not comforting._ The airship's yellow color completely stuck out in the clearing. A wide staircase led to an open door in its side. I cautiously climbed it, ready to run if it started to close. The others were already in the airship, watching me.

"Are you okay?" Sena asked.

"No. I'm not used to airships like this." They stared at me. "Airships, like you know… the ones that the humans here have. Airplanes. Yeah." The stairs led to a short hallway with doors on both ends. At least the airship felt safer than it looked….

One of the doors opened and a young blond boy wearing glasses ran up to us. "We were worried about you!" He skidded to a halt and looked up at me. "Oh… hi." He glanced at Sena.

"I'll explain in a bit," she said. "Where's everyone else?"

There were more?

"Rai is in the kitchen. He's really upset you didn't bring him along," he said, making it sound like it was completely normal, "Hak is with him."

We followed him down the hall, down another short hall, and into what looked like a very plain kitchen. Another Tigeroid, this one had long red hair that somehow bunched together into a low ponytail without anything to hold it that way. He glared at Sena. "Why didn't you tell me there was a Tai Chi character?!" His accent was strange. It sounded like a weird mix between light Tigeroid, something else that I wasn't familiar with, and strangely even some Dragonoid.

Sena ignored him and quickly introduced me to the others, the short one being named Tori, and the redhead being Rai. _That's_ who Luka wanted to fight? _Why?_

Rai kept looking back at me, frowning. He glanced at Finn, then at me, and laughed. "You look like Finn!"

Sena glared at him. "I don't see what's so funny about that, Rai."

My hair is shorter and curlier….

A small, white cat with gray stripes jumped up onto the table. _Cat. That's so much cuter than Duran._

"I thought I sensed another Tigeroid," he said. Wait, what? Duran always sensed me as a Dragonoid….

Luka's voice startled me. _'I was right.'_

_'Don't do that.'_

_'When Duran couldn't sense what you were, I thought that the cat couldn't either.'_

_'So you risked my safety? Like Ave said?'_

_'That idiot doesn't know what he's talking about. You'll be safe as long as you keep It a secret.'_

_'Keep_ what _a secret? Are you coming back for me?'_

_'The Tigeroid Airships have back decks. Find it and go out after dark.' _He left before I could ask him what he knew about why I could use Tigeroid cards.

The cat –_Hak?_\- had been talking to the Tigeroids, something he said made them look worried.

Sena frowned. "The Dragonoids should still be nearby… If they find us or Komorka before she gets back…."

"They would have left by now," I said, "Dragonoids don't usually say in an area when they've been found." They all stared at me. Uh… "After a year, you learn their strategies." Rai, Tori, and Hak looked confused.

"The Dragonoids were trying to capture her," Sena said.

_"What?!"_ Rai quickly stood up, knocking his chair over. "You should have told me!"

Sena glared at him. "It's not like we were expecting them to show up."

"I'm wanted because I can use Tai Chi cards without an Activator," I said.

Tori looked really interested. "Show us!"

Sena frowned. "She's already been through a lot today," she said firmly. She looked at me. "Are you tired?"

Well… Rai started to argue with the others, something about how he could defeat any Dragonoid he fought. "A little bit."

"Come on." She led me down another hallway and opened a door at the end. "You can have this room. We have a few extra guest rooms."

I stared around at the rather plain room. There was a small table next to the bed and there was a circle window on the wall. I turned to her. "I don't have to share?"

She looked confused. "No?"

Yes! I get my own room!

"Do you want me to show you around now or maybe a bit later after you rest for a while?"

"Now is good." Find my way out and Luka could come and get me sometime…. "I kind of wanted to get away from all the noise..."

Sena nodded. "Rai can be really obnoxious." From what I heard about him, that was an understatement.

The rest of the airship didn't have much else and was built more for living in, the opposite of the Dragonoid Airships and even the Luftdrake. A set of stairs led up to another hallway with small, round windows and a door that led to a wide open deck. The walls surrounding it were high enough to keep anyone that leaned over the side from falling. I looked over the side. The fall looked like it would hurt….

"We should go back inside," Sena said, glancing around, "Just in case they're still looking for you."

They would be halfway back to the Luftdrake by now… I followed her back inside.

"Do you live somewhere nearby? We could take you there if you need to get a few things."

Considering where my house was back on Suhn… "I live too far away and don't know how to get there from here."

"Do you have any family nearby? They must be worried about you."

I shook my head. "One half is back home and the other half…" I paused. "Is here and he doesn't care about me that much."

She frowned. "Only two?"

I nodded. "The only two I ever knew." It was easier talking to her than anyone back on the Luftdrake, including Jahara.

"Can I ask how many siblings you have? I have five. All of them are sisters."

I hoped the shock on my face wasn't as bad as I thought it was. _Five?_ "That's three more than I have."

Rai started yelling something about "how he could beat him and he only lost on purpose". Even a lot of rooms away he was still loud….

Sena let out a long sigh. "If you want, you can get something to eat and go back to your room. You can sleep in tomorrow. We won't leave until late morning."

* * *

After it got dark and hopefully the Tigeroids were asleep, I walked up to the deck. It was nice and breezy, and there were so many stars… _So pretty…_

"You look like an idiot."

Still smiling, I turned and saw Luka. My smile vanished. _Oh, it's you_. He stood on a floating platform and jumped onto the deck. He tensed and glanced around. He gave me my beat-up backpack that I found lying on the ground several weeks ago. It had all of my stuff in it, including my black hair dye that Jahara must have packed for me. "In a few days Garnia is going to bring you back for an hour. Every a week one of us will bring you back. If the Tigeroids ever ask where you were, lie

"Not Ave?"

"No."

Thank you. Wait… "Ave saw me use Ice earlier. He didn't tell General Vicious I'm a hybrid, did he?"

He stared at me, his face serious. _"You did what?"_ Even he didn't know… That was weird. Ave always told on me with something as small as taking the last _muffin_. So why not this time with apparently one of the secrets Luka told me to never tell anyone? He hissed something underneath his breath that sounded like a curse word. "Who else saw you?"

"Finn. You know, the one with long, black hair." I stopped smiling.

"Be careful around him." _Why?_ He let out a sigh. "You used the card without an Activator, didn't you? Do you feel all right?"

"I got a little lightheaded. It was stronger than I expected…."

He gave me a cardholder and something that kind of looked like an Activator, the difference being it was only one piece, thicker, and wider than the ones I was used to. Luka was quiet for a while, avoiding eye contact. "They were your mother's. She asked me to give them to you when you were ready."

Oh… I didn't talk for a while. "What was she like?"

For the first time, he didn't avoid the question. "From the short time I knew her, a lot like you," he hesitated again. "She was a Tigeroid." He never said she was a Dragonoid, so I couldn't be angry with him for that. _But for not telling me sooner I could._

He started to leave, maybe because he was sensitive about the subject, especially when it was about his mother.

I blocked him, glaring at him. "How long have you known about this?"

He looked away. "…For a while."

I stepped into his line of vision. "And you never told me?! Why?!"

"I didn't think you would ever even use a Tigeroid card," He didn't look directly at me.

"When were you going to tell me?"

He still didn't look at me. "Not until I thought you would be ready. I was planning to after you got used to them…."

"Because then I would accept it more."

He nodded.

I narrowed my eyes. "You better not have any more secrets about me. I _will _force them of you."

There was just a hint of expression over his face. "Try."

It was a dare. And I never win dares with him…. I folded my arms. "You could have told me earlier."

His face became serious. "The others would have found out and hybrids are against our laws. Do you _want _to die?"

…..no…..

He walked around me, leaving. "Use the Activator whenever you can. Using Tai Chi cards is exhausting enough and you'll be able to use more than just a few before experiencing the after affects," he paused. "Be careful."

"You're really going to leave me here?"

He turned back to me, his expression back to emotionless. "What does it look like?"

I glared at him. "Just because you're the older and pure Dragonoid doesn't mean I have to listen to you."

He let out an irritated sigh and for a second there was glimpse of a smile. "I'm your legal guardian."

_That's not fair!_ I gave him The Glare. "I hate you."

His expression and voice were so emotionless I couldn't tell if he was serious or sarcastic. "I love you, too."

I turned away from him. With what I heard about the Tigeroids from everyone, would I be that safe? They seemed really nice, at least….

But with what happened earlier and knowing how Ave is, sooner or later he'd use that secret against me….

**If you have any ideas for what could happen in future chapters, I won't mind hearing them.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the very long update. I kept getting writer's block and I've been busy writing oneshots, but I've mostly been working on writing Human.**

**Hopefully after this the updates will be a bit faster because the next chapter will start going along with the anime's storyline.**

**I did start a new project that will eventually affect my stories. As of now, I'm calling it Project Sky. Project Sky will affect my future oneshots and the updates of my stories, but hopefully not too much.**

**I'd still like to know if you have any ideas for what should happen later in this story. **

**There is probably OOCness in this chapter.**

**Cyborg: Originally when Sora was going to be a pure Dragonoid she was a lot more of a Mary Sue back then. She was a lot happier, willing to do whatever was right so everyone else would be safe and got along with everyone. **

**I will keep that in mind, though. I do have a few stories with Mary Sues and Gary Stus (or close to that. I have one that is overpowered with a lot of special abilities that I don't really know how to tone down yet) that I'm going to be rewriting someday.**

I woke the next morning to shouting and running from the other side of the door, the noise constantly fading and then getting louder. Even with how much softer and more comfortable my bed was than the one I had on the Luftdrake, I couldn't fall back asleep. _Why….? _I got up and opened the door, watching Tori chase Rai past me.

"Give me back my glasses!"

Rai laughed and put them on.

"Rai, give them back!" Tori started to sound really desperate.

I stuck out my arm. Rai ran into it, his feet flew out in front of him and he fell onto his back. He groaned. I took the glasses and gave them to Tori. "I always wanted to do that." It wasn't as good as when Luka did it to …that one really annoying warrior.

Rai glared up at me, "What did you do that for?!"

"It looked fun."

Rai narrowed his eyes at me. I gave him The Glare.

"I… I'm going to go now…" Tori said, sounding quiet, even scared. He ran off.

Rai frowned, slowly standing up, never breaking eye contact, "Wait…" He said a few strange words.

'_Sora, agree with him,' _Luka's voice sounded tense, as if this were life or death, _'Tell him "ne".'_

"Ne," I said, hoping it sounded convincing. _What language was that?_

'_Hangugeo,' _Luka said, _'One of Earth's languages. He asked if you've lived here for at least most of your life.'_

Rai looked away, "You can't know him…" Something in his voice sounded like I shouldn't ask about it, although it felt like he was talking about Luka.

'_How did you know what he was saying?'_

'_The warriors that were sent to Earth were taught the basics in several languages.'_

Now that I was awake…. I went back in my room to get my Activator and Cardholder. Rai was still standing there when I came back out.

"Which Dragonoids have you fought?" Unlike how upset he was yesterday and with how the others told me that he was normally very eager to fight them, he looked and sounded serious. The only other person I knew that made that expression was Luka.

"Jahara and Garnia. Just yesterday I fought Ave." Luka didn't count if I always lost to him.

"Did you ever see anyone else?"

"Not really." There were other Dragonoids here, but they were having really bad luck finding Tigeroid Tai Chi characters. There were several rumors about a few Dragonoids that sided with the Tigeroids, but those were usually confused with either Tigeroids that sided with the Dragonoids or the Dragonoids that got captured.

Rai was about to say something else when the door slammed open behind me.

"_How many times do I have to tell you not to take Tori's glasses?!"_ Sena glared at Rai as she walked up to him.

"He started it," Rai didn't look at her directly.

I slowly inched away. _Sena started to fit the description Jahara gave her…. _I closed the door behind me, that not being nearly enough to keep out Sena's voice as she scolded Rai.

I walked around, looking at where all of the rooms were this time. At the bottom of one of the staircases there was a room Sena didn't say that much about. I stared at the door. It looked like an important door, like something important was behind it.

'_That's where they keep the Tai Chi they've found,' _Luka said, _'There are similar rooms on the other Tigeroid airships we've attacked, but they never had more than one or two characters, if any at all.'_

'_It's not that good of a hiding spot.' _I stumbled back as the door opened from the inside.

'_Tigeroid Elder," _Luka said_, 'Be careful around her.' _He sounded worried.

_Careful? Why? Her presence is so calming…._

"You must be Sora," she said. I nodded. "Sena told me you fought a Tigeroid on your own. I'm assuming without your Activator?"

_How did she know that? _"I didn't have it with me at the time because I hid it so they wouldn't find it…."

"Your mother was like that. She activated cards on her own and would often purposely leave it behind."

"You knew her?"

She nodded, "She was a strong, brave warrior."

'_Luka, you lied. You said she wasn't like me.'_

"You have her cards and Activator, don't you?"

I nodded. "She left them for me."

"She knew your brother well, and helped train him while she could. She taught only him how to fight in both Tigeroid and Dragonoid styles."

_He can _what?

That must have been in my expression because Tori ran up to me, mid-sentence about something, and then asked what was wrong.

"Something about my brother," I turned back to the Tigeroid Elder, not sure what to say.

She smiled. "We can talk about this later."

I nodded stiffly and followed Tori down the hall.

"Do you like pancakes?" he asked. "Donha made a lot of them again and…" After that I couldn't keep up. _He talks more than Ave does…._

'_Don't reveal anything about who you are,' _Luka said, _'The boy you met yesterday knows a lot more than he's showing.'_

_Finn? No, Finn wouldn't tell anyone._

Tori led me to the kitchen where the other Tigeroids were sitting around the table, each with a plate of round flat things in front of them. Rai sat as far away from Sena as he possibly could, a red imprint of a hand on his cheek. A plate of the round flat things was at my spot, which was next to Sena.

"Did you sleep well?" Sena asked.

"Until Rai woke me up."

Sena gave him an annoyed look.

I cut off a piece of the round flat thing with my fork and bit into it. No words could describe how amazing it tasted.

'_Luka?'_

'_What?' _He sounded annoyed.

'_Can you make these things for me every day for the rest of my life?'_

'_I don't know what those are.'_

'_You're lying.'_

Rai stared at me, "You look like you never had pancakes before."

"My brother doesn't make stuff like this and my twin sister can't cook."

Sena turned to me. "Are your brother and sister near here?"

"Well… no…. I know where they are, though."

"We should bring them with us. If the Dragonoids find them they could be captured, or even killed."

… About that… "My brother had defeated a lot of opponents at once." There were _only_ fifteen….

Tori looked up from his plate, smiling and sounded very enthusiastic, "He can help us, then!"

"He doesn't work well with others and likes working alone."

Sena narrowed her eyes at Rai, "He sounds like someone we know."

"My sister is safe. She still lives on Suhn where she'll never be found." It became very silent.

'_Sora…' _Luka said my name slowly, warningly.

"She's in _Dragonoid _territory?"

"Well…" A lot of Dragonoids were there… "Yeah."

"But if multiple Dragonoids attack…."

"I'd feel sorry for them. You don't mess with Grandpa unless you want to get hurt." The last time Luka got him annoyed….

"You live with your grandfather?"

"We just call him that. We've lived with him since we were little." Well, since Luka's mother died.

"Are you sure they're safe?" Sena asked.

I nodded. "Very."

Luka had "left" at some point while I had been talking.

Tori looked up, "Can you show us how you use Tai Chi cards without an Activator later?" His glasses magnifying his eyes didn't help with how hopeful he looked. "Please?"

I didn't even look through the cards Luka gave to me. "Maybe a little later."

It was so weird that no one was arguing. It was _never _this peaceful on the Luftdrake. Every morning Ave did or said something to annoy Jahara or Garnia and they would fight over it. And that was before they got upset over failing to get a Tai Chi card or stuff that irritated them or a while.

It was disturbingly peaceful.

After we finished eating I got up, planning on going back to my room so I could look through my cards in private. The airship jerked and I clung to my chair to regain my balance.

Rai stared at me, "It's just the airship taking off."

The air pressure gradually changed, but it wasn't like the Luftdrake's.

"Is the air pressure bothering you?" Sena asked.

"You'll get used to it," Rai said, looking and sounding very proud of himself, "It didn't take me very long to. Not even a day."

"That's because you slept through it," Sena said.

"I'm fine," I said before they would start arguing again. I jumped when Hak's voice came from an unknown source, announcing he had found a Tai Chi signal. _So _that's_ how they found Tai Chi characters, just like Duran._

Duran probably sensed the Tai Chi by now. General Vicious wouldn't risk having Luka or Jahara or even Ave seen two days in a row, unless he was desperate. Or forced to. So Garnia would be sent to get the card. I followed the others to a wide room. Three walls had floor-to-ceiling windows, a chair sat in the middle of the room and in front of it was a table with a screen for the top. Kamorka sat in the chair and greeted us. Hak stood on the table, staring at the screen that looked like a map. He looked up, "It's in a nearby town."

I walked over to a window and looked how far away it was.

_It's raining. Why, why? Why does it have to be raining? My hair dye washes out so easily…. Once that happens everyone would find out and then I'll die. They'll know I'm- _

"Sora?" Sena walked up to me. "We're all going to look for the card. Just in case the Dragonoids are looking for it we're splitting into two groups. I'll go with Finn and Rai and you'll go with Donha and Tori, okay?"

_Why can't I go with Finn?_ I nodded, "Sure."

The airship landed in a clearing a walkable distance away from the town. I followed the Tigeroids, quickly looking over my cards. Hail, an Attack card, Fog, a Defense card, and Sun, a Technique-type card.

We stopped just before the door where a closet was. Donha handed out really weird cloaks that were smooth and rubbery and kind of stiff. Mine was too big and I kept tripping from the excess length, but at least it was better than getting wet. I looked around at the Tigeroids. Theirs were too big for them, too. Especially Tori's.

When we walked into the town we split into our groups.

Tori looked up at Donha, "Can we get ice cream?"

Donha turned to me, "We can eat while we wait for the rain to stop." That sounded like an excuse to get ice cream. Whatever that was. Donha led us into a small shop. On one side were clear freezing units with barrels of colored solid stuff inside. Behind them was enough room to walk around and open the units. One the other side of the shop were a few tables with chairs. There were a few humans already around, eating solid stuff in small white bowls or upside down cones.

"Which flavor do you want?" Donha asked.

There were flavors? "Surprise me."

Donha nodded and turned to someone that worked there, speaking in the same language Rai spoke earlier. Now that I heard it again, it sounded similar to our native language. And the signs that were around that writing that was similar, too.

Donha handed me an upside down crusty cone filled with white solid stuff. It was cold… Donha got stuff that was brown and Tori got stuff that was pink. I licked mine, copying what they were doing. _Cold! Cold! Cold! But worth it. _It didn't seem to bother them too much, and strangely it wasn't that bad. Maybe because Tigeroids are a lot less sensitive to the cold than Dragonoids and I'm a hybrid? Garnia and Jahara were the only Dragonoids I knew that would probably like it, especially Garnia. Luka didn't like sweets that much, and Ave had some weird obsession with muffins.

"Sora, don't eat that fast or-" Tori's warning came too late. My head suddenly hurt.

"Press your thumb to the roof of your mouth," Donha said, "It helps with ice cream headaches."

I did what he said and the pain went away.

* * *

It was raining even harder. Big, fat raindrops drummed against the window. Tori sat next to me, leaning forward with his arms folded on the table. Whatever had been in the ice cream had made him extremely talkative for the last fifteen minutes and now he was really quiet and looked tired. He jumped when thunder rumbled. "…I'm awake…" He dozed off again.

Donha watched the rain.

"Do you think they found the card yet?" I asked.

"They would have told us if they did," he said, "They're probably taking shelter until the rain stops, too."

"You don't think…." Saying "the Dragonoids" instead of "the Tigeroids" would be weird….

Donha shook his head, "I doubt it. Dragonoids may be stronger in the water, but I don't think even they would be out in this weather."

Luka was probably training in it.

A bolt of lightning flashed and the lights went out. _If it was close enough to do that, then the thunder should be… now. Okay, now. ….Now. Why wasn't there thunder?_

Donha narrowed his eyes.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know. Lightning with no thunder is weird." A loud explosion shook the building, making me scream. _Why, thunder, why? Why did you have delayed, unexpected timing?_

Donha got up. "That was an Explosion card. The lightning from before was from a Tai Chi. There's a fight right now."

We ran down the street following the sounds of a battle. I half-slipped at the next sharp turn into a wide alley that led to an open space with cement ground and metal framework sticking out of it. It looked as if it had been abandoned a while ago. The Tigeroids were near the base, watching the sky and occasionally activating their cards when they could get a clear shot. Garnia was on a floating platform, doing basically the same thing. The Tigeroids were going to lose. Garnia was difficult to defeat in open areas.

Donha turned to me. "Go with Tori to find the Tai Chi card," he ran ahead.

Tori gave me a tired look and followed me back down the alley. "They need help," he said, "if it keeps raining like this-" After that I don't know where he got the energy to talk that fast.

I got my Activator out and turned it on its side so it could be used like a regular one, even though it felt a lot more awkward to hold. I slashed my Sun card through it.

Nothing happened. I repeated the process multiple times, glaring at the device. _Work you stupid thing! Work! _I slashed the card upwards slowly.

_Yes! It's- Work!_

The exhaustion from card use began creeping up on me. Even if the Activator fails it still counts as activating the card. Wonderful. I gave the Activator The Glare. Activating Sun without it would be a bad idea right now.

Tori walked ahead of me, staring at the screen of his Communicator. "Hak says the card is this way."

Where did he get that energy from? I turned my Activator back, which felt a bit less awkward. Maybe if I slashed the card through the top…. Tori led me to another alley, one with a dead end. "It should be somewhere around here…." He frowned. "The rain is making it hard to tell."

So rain made Tigeroid cards weaker? Like when they were in water? That's why Sun didn't work. …Than why are the Tigeroids's cards working? _Why won't _my_ card work?_

Tori ran ahead. "It's the next left!"

That's what he just said…. I ran past him, and slipped as I turned. Another dead end. How did Tori know for sure- the card lied on the ground a few meters ahead of me. That's… convenient. Tori screamed, startled. He must have slipped or something. I picked the card up.

Do I give it to the Tigeroids because they want it, or give it to the others because they need it? The general always rewards the others when they bring a card back, and Luka would finally start to respect me….

It started to rain even harder. I got my Sun card out and slashed it through the top of my Activator, right to left like if I'd turn it on a normal Activator on its side. _Nothing. Why won't the stupid thing work?!_

The card flashed, activating. I didn't want to do that! Sunlight filtered through the clouds and a shadow crept up the back wall. Oh great. I turned, glaring at Ave. What is he doing here, looking all proud on his floating platform?

"I see they didn't kill you yet," he said.

_Why would you care? _"I'm not giving you the card. I'm going to defeat you with it." I activated it. Seven bands of color spread out into a tall, wide arch.

_A rainbow?! _I glared at Ave as he laughed. _Don't sound all happy about it! _I activated Water, having it twist and hit him from behind hard enough to almost knock him down. _He's lucky that thing has a railing._ I pointed the card at him. "Never come near me again."

He gave a small nod and retreated.

I leaned against the wall. _So tired_…. I smiled as Finn ran up to me. _Hi._

"Did you get the card?"

I showed it to him. He could know; he wouldn't tell anyone. He looked over as the Tigeroids ran past, shouting Tori's name. They sounded really worried about Tori just slipping. I put the card away and went to see why they were still shouting.

Tori was tied upside down with glowing green whips high up on a pole. Amazingly his glasses didn't fall off yet.

"I could use Sword to cut him down," Rai said.

"No," Sena said, "He could fall and get hurt."

Donha didn't look that worried. Instead he just stood near the base of the pole, like he was waiting for something. He talked to Tori, but the conversation was drowned out by Sena and Rai arguing. Whip lost its affect and Donha caught Tori.

Tori ran up to me, looking relieved. "When Ave saw you he left me here. I thought-" Once again he spoke too fast to understand him, although the other Tigeroids seemed to.

I leaned against a nearby wall, slowly sliding down, too tired to care if they wanted to see the card.

When I woke up I was back in my room. It was still light out, but later in the day. I looked around. _It was so quiet, so lonely…. _Rai's voice came from somewhere, strangely comforting. I got up and followed his obnoxious voice.

Rai stood on a chair as he spoke, once again and not surprisingly looking very proud of himself. The other Tigeroids sat around the table, looking very bored. Donha wasn't with them.

Sena looked up and smiled, "We let you sleep in."

I sat next to her, "How long have I been out?"

"Since yesterday."

What?

Rai cleared his throat, "As I was saying…."

At that moment Donha came in, with a _huge plate of pancakes. _He set it on the table. "I noticed how much you like them." He put a stack on a plate and gave it to me.

Rai pouted, sinking into his chair, "But what about my story?"

"We heard you beat Garnia about a hundred times now," Sena gave him and irritated look, "Yes, you fought him alone. It happened _three days_ ago."

Only three days? Whenever Ave got a victory he wouldn't stop talking about it for a week.

Rai stared as I ate. "You know, if you keep eating like that- ow!" He glared at Sena.

"After you defeated Garnia you ate more than all of us did. Tai Chi cards take a lot of energy to use."

After we finished eating they led me to another room where a big glowing blue stone inscribed with around twenty Tai Chi characters was. I recognized a few of them.

Kamorka turned to us, "You did well, Sora. Rainbow will be a very useful card in the future."

Sena turned to me, "You can give the card to her now so she can add it to the others we already have."

I gave the card to Kamorka. I'd always be able to take it back to the others, and maybe General Vicious would finally notice I was alive if I did. The card glowed and the character for Rainbow appeared with the others. None of the Tigeroids looked nervous, or even jealous, except maybe Rai. So they weren't going to get punished for failing? The general did, but the punishments were never very harsh, like an hour more or less training, depending on who it was.

The character looked like it fit with the others, like it belonged there…. Kamorka gave the card back to me. "It's power will increase after it rains or if it's combined with a water attack." Her smile was knowing. She didn't know, did she?

The Tigeroids looked really happy, like they all shared the victory. It was so weird….

The rest of the evening was uneventful, aside from Rai losing three card games in a row to Finn.

Sena walked with me back to my room.

"Sena…." I turned to her. "I don't like being alone. I thought it would be fun to have my own room, but it's not…." Jahara probably didn't miss me that much. She's tough. My twin probably redid our room by now… She had always wanted to and kept trying to steal space on my side…. But maybe she didn't like being alone, either. "Rai's voice was comforting."

Sena took my wrist and led me down the hall, briefly stopping back at the main room just as Rai lost a board game to Finn, "Finn, Donha, can you move Sora's bed into my room?" She led me down the hall.

"You're not asking Rai?"

"He would just sit your bed the whole time claiming he's giving directions."

Sena's room was down a hall with five other doors, two on each side, one at the very end, each with a different color painted on it. Sena's room had the pink door. Her room didn't have much other than a bed and a desk. On the desk was a picture frame.

Photography wasn't all that common on Suhn and could cost a lot. Maybe her family had someone here from Earth take it, which, judging by her age in the picture, was likely.

In the picture her parents, three older girls and a younger girl, probably her sisters, stood in a group to the left. Sena stood off to the right, next to a girl that didn't look related to her. The other girl was wearing a fluffy hat that flopped enough to cover her hair. She looked about a year or two younger than Sena.

"That's my family," Sena said, and pointed out her sisters, "That's Asti, Cloda, Straw, and Hannah, and that's Miya." She finished by pointing to the girl that stood next to her, "She's a year younger than me. We adopted her after the war started ten years ago."

"She's not travelling with you?"

"She's at the Tigeroid base. She's a healer."

"She has healing cards? Those are rare."

Sena shook her head. "She's a human."

That's strange to adopt someone that can't use cards. But the Tigeroids did seem to be more accepting than the others….

Finn and Donha carried my bed in and set it across from Sena's. Donha gave me my backpack. "Do you need anything else?"

"Not right now."

He nodded and followed Finn out. "Good night." He closed the door behind him.

Sena sat on her bed, "We're going to train tomorrow. You can watch for a while if you want to."

I nodded, sitting on my bed. "Okay."

"If you need to study Tai Chi cards Donha can help you. He's very enthusiastic about it."

As long as he wasn't like Garnia when it came to studying that would be fine.

"I would offer to stay up longer, but," Sena looked at the door, "Rai's snoring will keep you up all night."

"That's not fun."

"No, it's not."

Sena went to turn off the light. "Good night."

"Good night."

A little while later, just as I started to fall asleep, I was reminded that I still wore the Link Tai Chi.

'_Study their training.'_

'_Let me sleep.'_

'_You need to know what cards they have. Someday they may fight you.'_

_Oh, good plan. 'Are you going to get me soon?'_

'_In a few days Garnia will bring you back for a few hours.'_

'Never _send Ave.'_

'_He isn't even interested. Why did he come back soaked?'_

'_I hit him with my Water Tai Chi.'_

'Now _you finally used it in a hook shot?'_ He didn't sound impressed, _'Did you pass out from lack of control again?'_ He sounded annoyed.

I didn't respond for a few seconds. _''Night!' _I took off my Link Tai Chi and hit it under my pillow. Ha!

And that's when Rai started to snore.

**Note:** **Hangugeo is the Korean word for the Korean language and ne is yes. ****I'm not completely sure how to pronounce Hangugeo. And when I was looking up what yes was, I noticed that ne can also mean four.**

**Rai most likely grew up learning Korean, so….**


End file.
